


Anomalies

by pastelsofdeath



Series: Screaming at the Screen Till It Does What I Want [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor's an idiot, DBH, Detroit, F/M, Hank's an unhelpful dad, Idk what i'm doing, detroit become human - Freeform, send help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 04:01:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16297772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelsofdeath/pseuds/pastelsofdeath
Summary: June Hamely was an anomaly, Connor decided.June with the green eyes and the golden brown curls that bounced when she walked. June who’s laughter could inspire any android to defy their original programming. June who made his thirium pump feel as though it might malfunction from overexertion. She was different than any other human he’d encountered; she made him feel full of life and like he might deactivate all at the same time. She was the most mystifying. The most entrancing. And more recently, the mostinfuriating.





	Anomalies

**Author's Note:**

> So this is only my first time posting a fic here instead of just reading them. I figured it was about time haha
> 
> Many, many thanks to my amazing best friend for beta reading, editing, and letting me bounce ideas off her!!

June Hamely was an anomaly, Connor decided. 

June with the green eyes and the golden brown curls that bounced when she walked. June who’s laughter could inspire any android to defy their original programming. June who made his thirium pump feel as though it might malfunction from overexertion. She was different than any other human he’d encountered; she made him feel full of life and like he might deactivate all at the same time. She was the most mystifying. The most entrancing. And more recently, the most  _ infuriating _ .

For the first time in his short existence, Connor found himself slamming the door of Hank’s small house as he entered. Error codes flashed red in his vision, demanding artificial breathing to cool his overheated systems, his processors running overtime to compensate for the strong emotions he still wasn’t used to feeling. 

Hank started from his spot at the kitchen table, nearly spilling his beer. “Jesus fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?”

It took Connor a moment to acknowledge his partner with a brisk nod as he complied with the dictates of his self preservation platform, fighting off the extra serge of error codes. He took to pacing by the couch. His calibration coin turned over his knuckles while he ran through the varying outcomes he had run scenarios for. Things certainly hadn’t gone according to plan. 

Far from it. 

He had _ planned _ to show up to Hamely’s Hardware. Planned that he would walk up the fire escape around the back of the store. Planned knock on the back door of June’s apartment like he had so many times before. She would be there with that thousand watt smile and her curls tied up the way they always were when she’d been working in the shop all day. And things would go back to normal again after he’d apologize for the night a week, three days, and two hours earlier. 

Since then, their typically daily communication had ground to a halt, guilt plaguing Connor’s systems. His uncertainty had been keeping him from being the first one to break the silence. Hank had given him more than enough worried glances, though, and commented about the lack of June’s presence before Connor gathered himself to go make up with her. 

_ Try  _ to make up with her. 

Connor let out a frustrated growl, pacing faster. 

“Connor! Sit the hell down, you’re gonna wear a hole in the carpet,” Hank chastised. “C’mon, kid, you’re making Sumo nervous.”

The Saint Bernard lifted his head from his spot in the kitchen, roused by the sound of his name, but otherwise looked unbothered. Connor crossed the room anyway and sat down with more force than he’d intended. The chair creaked under his weight.

“So, what happened? You left the house lookin’ like a kicked puppy.”

That wasn’t far from the truth. Connor couldn’t deny he had been unusually… despondent in the last ten days. June had been a part of his daily routine for a reasonably large portion of his considerably short life. Nowhere near as long as Hank, but long enough that the absence of her presence felt strange. 

“I just-”  He could feel his systems heating up again. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this  _ angry _ before. “I don’t understand human women.”

“No one does. What’d she do to get you this worked up?” 

Elbows on the table, his hands folded over each other like he’d been programmed to do. 

“I got to June’s and she wouldn’t listen to me. She said she was  _ going out _ .”

Hank look unimpressed. “Yeah?”

“She mentioned something about Detective Reed,” he spat the words between clenched teeth. 

That caught the lieutenant’s attention. “Well fuck, what did you do?”

“I...what?”

Hank Anderson let out a long suffering sigh. 

“Listen, Connor, you think I haven’t seen that girl around you? Geeze, I don’t know how even you _ , _ with that thick head of yours, haven’t seen it by now. The only way June even entertained the idea of hanging around Gavin Reed is that  _ you _ royally fucked up. When did you talk to her last?”

Tabletops had plenty to scan, Connor quickly decided, analyzing the numerous stains from spilled alcohol over the years. He identified thirty two different stains and six different types of alcohol, and one perfect circle of coffee from where he’d over filled June’s cup the first time she’d been over early enough to share breakfast with Hank. 

Connor followed the circle with his fingertips, remembering the morning light making her eyes look brilliantly green as she smiled at him. Then the coffee had tipped over the rim of the cup, June’s “Oh! Careful!” turning his attention back to the task at hand. That lack of attention had been unusual for him. He’d run diagnostics multiple times after that, each result coming up ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL. Later he had attributed the moment of distraction to his infatuation with the spunky mechanic. 

“Don’t avoid the question, son.”

His fingers stilled on approximately their twenty-third time around the circle, the memory receding back into storage files. He kept his sight on the table as he answered. 

“About a week and a half.”

The silence that followed sent a wave through his systems that his emotional processors categorized as discomfort. A feeling he had experienced more often than he’d like. 

Connor raised his eyes to see Hank leaned back in his chair, arms folded, eyebrow raised, lips pursed. He looked smug? No. It was that look he always gave when he thought Connor was should know better. 

Defending his actions seemed the most logical step. 

“I wasn’t sure how much time was appropriate to break the silence when I didn’t hear from her. Or if she wanted me to. My calculations were inconclusive. But I decided that perhaps an apology for my lack of contact would help mend our relationship.”

“Ah, fuck, Connor. Back in the day we called that ghosting.”

Connor frowned. “I’m not familiar with that term, lieutenant.”

“Goddamned piece of plastic, of course you aren’t. Look it up.” 

He did, blinking as he connected to the internet. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah,  _ oh _ . If you did something stupid and  _ then _ disappeared on her...no wonder she didn’t want to give you the time of day. Wanna get her to hear you out? Go through those memory banks of yours and find what you really did wrong. Apologize for that, and don’t pussyfoot around the issue. You’re a top of the line detective android for Christ’s sake, figure it out. Do you know where they went?”

Connor hesitated, but nodded. He’d been tracking the location of June’s phone since he’d left her apartment. 

“Then go fix it.”

He watched as Hank pushed himself from the table and retreated to his room. Well, it seemed like that was all the help he would be getting.

The android rose from his seat as well, moving instead to the couch where Sumo padded over to lay his head against Connor’s knee. Connor stroked the dog’s ears absently, his LED flickered yellow as he recalled his memories from the last time he’d seen June Hamely. 

_____________________________

 

_ He and June had been on what Hank had started to refer to as one of their “not dates.” They hadn’t exactly discussed the topic of romance, though Hank thought Connor should just get on with it and tell June exactly how bad he had it. Connor thought Hank should stop making remarks about his romantic life.  _

_ It was cold. 36.8 degrees Fahrenheit. He remembered the way June’s breath had puffed out into the air in small clouds. Her shoulder had bumped his with more frequency than could be considered statistically coincidental as they walked.  _

_ They’d been ice skating, of all things. June had tugged him along by the arm when he’d met her at her apartment. She’d laughed at his surprise at their destination. Smiled as they’d glided out into the ice, the only two out in the rink. Somewhere along the way she’d leaned into him for his superior balance, her arm hooked through his, despite seeming to not have any problems staying on her feet.  _

_ Connor couldn’t honestly say he hadn’t enjoyed it. Because he had. Immensely. He’d found himself laughing and smiling back at her, finding his own excuses to allow closer physical contact until it was time to head back. His thirium pump was beating almost double time as they made their way through the streets of Detroit.  _

_ There was an itch inside him to take her hand. If he shifted his arm just a few degrees from his body he could feel their fingers brush. Each time it happened he waited for her to pull away, and each time she didn’t it sent a thrill through his systems. That, along with her not so subtle shoulder bumping, there was a 98% chance of success should he attempt to hold her hand. He’d been about to do just that and then- _

_ Gavin Reed.  _

_ The detective was walking towards them, headed in the opposite direction. Other than a handful of civilians moving quickly to get out of the cold, the street was otherwise unoccupied. There was an 8% chance Reed would miss seeing them.  _

_ Immediately, Connor shifted his step to the side. Putting distance between himself and June. He saw the soft flare of curls as she turned her head to look up at him, her brows dipped lightly.  _

_ Reed was almost on top of them when his face twisted into his usual sneer.  _

_ “Well, if it isn’t the DPD’s infamous plastic dipshit. Anderson actually let you off your leash, huh?” _

_ Connor squared his shoulders, falling back into the ramrod preprogrammed posture he typically adopted whenever he had to deal with the detective. It was a defense mechanism he still hadn’t narrowed the reasoning behind, but he wasn’t about to psychoanalyze himself right in that moment.  _

_ “Detective Reed,” even his vocal modulators had picked up that stiff, mechanical tonation again, “good evening.” _

_ If there was one thing to be said about Reed it was that he was at least a consistent asshole. So Connor wasn’t completely surprised when the man took a step forward towards him and quietly said: _

_ “Shame about that Android Rights bullshit.” _

_ And then Gavin’s eyes had flicked over to June, noticing her for the first time. Connor had almost taken a protective step in front of her. He could take the detective’s verbal abuse and threats - he could always divert to select sections of his original programming - but June didn’t deserve the brunt of whatever Reed might say to her at his expense.  _

_ It would have been hard not to miss the slow rake of the detective’s eyes over June’s body. For a split second before a flicker of...possessiveness surged through his emotional processors, Connor couldn’t blame the man for his appreciation. June was beautiful. The way her long, dark lashes brushed her cheeks when she blinked, the way the cold flushed her cheeks, the way she sometimes worried her bottom lip between her teeth like she was doing in that moment.  _

_ “Well, hello, Gorgeous.” _

_ That flicker of possessiveness turned into a flame. Connor had squinted slightly, but didn’t fall out of his rigid posture. _

_ Gavin sidestepped around Connor, eyes only on June, “Wow. You’ve got to at least got to be in the top five most beautiful women I’ve seen today.  What’s your name, sweetheart?” _

_ “Wow. You must be that detective I’ve heard  _ so _ much about from Hank and Connor,” she shot back without missing a beat.  _

_ “Hah. All good things I hope.” _

_ June’s hum was non-committal, brows lifted, bottom lip back between her teeth. She tilted her chin up slightly and to the side, the way she always did when she was annoyed. _

_ “You never gave me your name, babe.” _

_ Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, not enough that Reed would notice in the dark street, but Connor caught it along with the quiet click of her tongue before she spoke.  _

_ “June.” _

_ “Pretty name, June,” her name sounded strange coming from Gavin. “Say, uh,“you wanna go grab a drink?” _

_ “Sorry, I’m a little busy,” June smiled sweetly. She moved forward, weaving her fingers through Connor’s as she leaned against his arm. Those golden brown curls pressed against his shoulder.  _

_ If Connor’s thirium pump had been working overtime before at the mere probability of holding her hand, now- Overexertion warnings lined his field of vision. Carefully, he took a few breaths to ventilate his systems, turning down the unprogrammed reaction he was experiencing from physical contact.  _

_ Through both their clothes, the receptors of his skin picked up her body temperature of 97.7 fahrenheit. Connor found himself momentarily stuck in a loop of processing the sensory information. Something foreign ran through his binary. Not quite an emotional response but something akin to one. He stored the moment in its own file, saved for examination at another time as the curl of the detective’s mouth turned sour. _

_ Still unmoving, Connor’s combat platform activated, waiting for a directive should Reed choose to make a wrong move.  _

_ The man’s huffed laugh lacked mirth. _

_ June heart rate increased, but her face remained serene as she turned her head on Connor’s shoulder to look up at him. Those green eyes of hers met his.  _

_ “We were just on our way to the movies,” she fluttered her lashes. “Right, babe?” _

_ “Fuck. You’re one of those psycho plastic-fuckers, aren’t you? Bet you fucked your house android before the government turned it into scrap metal during the Rise.” _

_ Connor’s jacket sleeve bunched where June’s free hand curled into the fabric. The fingers around his squeezed a little tighter.  _

_ “It’s not what you think, Detective,” Connor said quickly, pulling his hand from June’s to tuck it behind his back and step away once more.  “Ms. Hamely was only joking. She is of no import. Simply a friend Lieutenant Anderson asked me to accompany home.” _

_ Gavin reed paused, mouth snapping shut just as he was about to speak again. He shoved his hands in his pockets with a shrug and hugged through his nose, a behavior Connor recognized in the man as discomfort.  _

_ “Well. Good,” he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Didn’t really think she’d seriously be hanging around metal scraps like you anyway.” _

_ He shoulder checked Connor on his way past, making his way quickly down the street. _

_ Connor let his combat platform settle back into idle.  _

_ _________________ _

 

After that run in June had been much quieter than normal. Far more reserved than she had been. Then, Connor had assumed Reed’s words had shocked her, but now… 

_ Shit _ . 

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it to the end here thank you so much for reading!  
> See you in the next chapter!


End file.
